Zelfs aan de stilte komt een eind: mijn jaren van gevangenschap in de jungle van Colombia

by Ingrid Betancourt

«Enchaînée par le cou à un arbre, privée de toute liberté, celle de bouger, de s'asseoir, de se lever ; celle de parler ou de se taire ; celle de boire ou de manger ; et même la plus élémentaire, celle d'assouvir les besoins de son corps... J'ai pris conscience – après de longues années – que l'on garde tout de même la plus précieuse de toutes, la liberté que personne ne peut jamais vous ôter : celle de décider qui l'on veut être.»

Même le silence a une fin raconte les six ans et demi de captivité d'Ingrid Betancourt dans la jungle colombienne aux mains des FARC. Récit intime d'une aventure qui ne ressemble à aucune autre, voyage hanté, palpitant du début à la fin, c'est aussi une méditation sur la condition des damnés – et sur ce qui fonde la nature humaine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, History, Politics, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

493 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

Former Colombian politician, mostly known for being kidnapped by the FARC.

Was voted in the Colombian congress in 1998 and was kidnapped by the FARC in 2002 during her presidential campaign until she was freed in 2008.

Reviews

[La Petite Américaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE - 2/17/16:

I'm not trying to claim some false sense of importance by writing this. I'm well aware that this is just goodreads. I doubt that the author has read my review (God, I hope not, anyway), and I know that very few people will care about this update.

Still, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't address a few things.

The only review of Even Silence Has an End on goodreads worth your time is this one.

I'm ashamed of my review, and I'll eventually pull it.

But the only thing more cowardly than posting this review in the first place would be to delete it and pretend it never happened.

But I can't just keep crying about it either. It's better to just own it.

So, here goes.

In 2010, I read Even Silence Has an End, but I formed my opinion of Ingrid Betancourt from the books, articles, and interviews I read about her after the fact.

That opinion, rather than my feelings about the book itself, was the driving force behind my review 6 years ago.

Last week, I attended a Q&A hosted by Ingrid Betancourt.

I was excited to meet the person who wrote one of the best books I've ever read. Plus, I had a question I'd wanted to ask her since I first read her memoir all those years ago. And I'd never let go of that conclusion I'd come to 6 years earlier: I figured that Ingrid Betancourt was yet another monster among us--a Franco-Colombian Claire Underwood of sorts.

I was wrong.

I've met all sorts of "celebrated monsters" over the years, from the ultra-famous to everyday nobodies. I know when I'm dealing with a liar, narcissist, or sociopath.

Ingrid Betancourt isn't one of them.

There was no charm, magnetism, poise, or presence about her--no agenda, no performance, no attempt to disarm the crowd. And when I asked her my question (which I immediately regretted doing), I fully expected to be upbraided, or at least met with a dismissive response. Instead, she was gracious enough to spend a significant amount of time trying to answer me.

And what about her answer, anyway? It was revealing. It was imperfect. It was raw and unrehearsed, jagged at times, sometimes rational, other times contradictory--yet it was clearly the truth as she saw it.

In short, everything about her answer was human.

Everything about her was human.

And if everything about her was human, that means that when I wrote this review, I tore down one of us.

Now who's the monster?

Well.

There's nothing quite like your own misdirected cruelty to give you pause, throw you into an existential crisis, make you hate yourself, etc etc.

This review has been here for 6 years for anyone who cared to read it. Allow me to reposition it for the next person who stumbles across it and offer a counterpoint to my former 20-something self who wrote it.

The real narrative goes like this:

--Ingrid Betancourt is the victim. She was kidnapped by terrorists, held captive, and brutalized for 6.5 years. It's wrong to imply that she's responsible for the things that happened to her. Her decision to enter FARC territory could have been for any number of reasons--none of which matter. Nothing changes the fact that she's the victim. She didn't ask for any of it.

--No one, not even the aforementioned monsters who walk among us, deserves to suffer what Betancourt and her fellow captives did.

--The world simply victimized Ingrid Betancourt again. International fame was built around her while she was in captivity, and it was thrust upon her when she was rescued. Disturbingly, all it took for her to fall out of favor was something that most would applaud: she criticized the government. That took the form of angering one Colombian politician and then offending some Colombian judges by seeking compensation for her kidnapping. (The other hostages in captivity with Betancourt also sued the Colombian government--you just didn't hear about it). Oh, and 3 or 4 people wrote books saying she wasn't a very nice person while she was in captivity.
To build someone up--especially a woman--only to smack her down for misbehaving? It's predictable, it happens every day, and it's purely abusive.
(And I just have to add: I feel so stupid that I didn't see it happening with this one, that I took that tired narrative as truth and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker and made it my own).

--How Betancourt, or anyone else, behaved while in captivity is a stupid thing to debate. It's irrelevant, and probably only made it into print to sell books. Those of us who fell into that trap need to do better, lest we also want to debate the character of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Holocaust survivors, et. al.

--Despite everything she's endured, Betancourt has never acted like a victim. Surviving 6.5 years of captivity in the jungle is bad-ass in itself. But she didn't stop there and call it good. She went on to pen a memoir so well-written that parts of it border on sublime. She recently released a novel, and she's pursuing a PhD. That's all pretty rockstar if you ask me.

--Faulting her for capitalizing on her fame is ridiculous, especially when her message is one of peace and forgiveness. That she never used her ordeal to push an agenda (like, say, burning down the jungle and firebombing the fuckers that wronged her) is admirable.

It's so easy to be some hyper-critical nobody spouting her suspicions and assumptions on a dumb website like goodreads. It takes a lot more courage to be in the public eye, do cool things with your life, and bear it all with dignity.

Like I said, I don't presume that Ingrid Betancourt has read my review, or would care if she did.

But, just in case: Ingrid, I'm so sorry.

I can't undo the cruelty that has sat on this page for 6 years.

But I can add a few edits to show what I think of it now.

See revisions below.

*****

So, let's talk about this book.

First, a little background about the story: it's the memoir of Ingrid Betancourt, a Colombian senator who was running for president of that country when she was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held captive for 6 years. She lived through sheer hell, including infighting among her fellow hostages, swarms of biting jungle insects, marches during life-threatening illnesses through the never-ending Amazon, and sitting for months at a time with her neck chained to a tree. In a country where the guerrillas' usual M.O. is to storm the homes of politicians, kidnap and kill them, Betancourt (who knowingly wandered into FARC territory) is lucky to be alive.

Even Silence Has an End is one of the most beautiful books that you will ever read. Much of the memoir reads like poetry: "Freedom--such a precious jewel, one we were prepared to risk our lives for--would lose all its brilliance if it were to be worn in a life of regret," ; "Our words echoed in the air, beneath a heavenly dome that wore the dust of diamonds sprinkled alongside the constellations of our thoughts."

Betancourt also reveals small glimpses of humanity that appeared in her jungle prison hell: the guerrillas dancing and singing with the prisoners, a hand grasped in the darkness at night in sheer terror, and the touching words impulsively spoken when another prisoner is on the brink of death. She will take you beyond the depths of despair to a place without hope, to times when she had given up on life, could no longer eat, and could barely stand up. Betancourt is more than a gifted writer and her words will charm you, seduce you, and likely leave you holding her in great reverence.

And what about Ingrid Betancourt today? She's beautiful. She's charismatic. She's a brilliant, wealthy, multi-lingual icon with killer heels and lots of friends in high places. She's part of the European jet-set and has left two hot husbands in her wake. Let's not forget that she's also a strong woman and an incredible survivor.

I want to believe her, I really do. But before we all get misty-eyed and enamored beyond the point of no return, let's have a look at reality.

Getting kidnapped was the best thing that ever happened to Betancourt's career. It launched her to international stardom, scored her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, the French love her more than their wine, and America is embracing her. Her book deal landed her millions on three separate continents. Two different films are being made about her ordeal. Further, for a cool $25,000, a couple of first-class airline tickets and hotel accommodations, Betancourt will come and speak at any event. She will justify why she tried to sue the very government that rescued her and explain away just why her fellow hostages (including a former close friend, Clara Rojas, who was kidnapped with her) can't stand her. If you find one Colombian who isn't disgusted with Betancourt, I'll buy you a Coke.

What is most disturbing about Betancourt's account of captivity is the fact that she's the most unreliable narrator since Humbert Humbert. (If you take Betancourt at face value, then you likely also believe that Lolita really was a 12 year-old slut who wanted the old man to give it to her like a bad girl; you can stop reading here.) She seems to suffer from delusions so strong that she actually believes them. Her accounts read like hazy visions conjured up in an alarmingly high fever; even the sexual assault by nameless, faceless captors in the misty green airs of the humid jungle starts to make you wonder...and it gets worse. Betancourt describes heart to heart conversations with her female captors that sound fabricated. She tells of a chance meeting with a nameless peasant, straight out of central casting, who warned Ingrid of visions of grave danger. (Eyeroll). She describes bathing Clara Rojas's newborn; Clara, whom Ingrid has been fighting with for years, then asks Betancourt to be the child's godmother. Right. Sure she did. Especially after Ingrid verbally trashed Clara for the first quarter of the book, snidely inferring that Rojas was sinking into madness. (Clara tells a very different story in her own memoir of captivity.) At best, these things are contrived, at worst, they are blatant lies. I would never put it past a politician to lie, but Betancourt, despite multiple claims to the contrary seems convinced of their veracity. Someone needs to pass the lithium.

When not attacking her fellow hostages on every page, Betancourt slips in unnecessary petty details for an extra sting, such as Rojas leaving the bathroom an "unspeakable mess," or another captive bragging about the cost of his engagement ring. One wonders just why these things needed to be in print, other than the fact that Betancourt is clearly out for blood. Our catty hero redeems herself in other ways, however, by teaching her captors French (suuuuuureee) and protesting until prisoners' chains are removed (uh-huh). Her former companions in captivity are so charmed by her that one wants to sue her for libel, one hates her more than all other humans on earth, and one has said "Let's not make symbols and icons out of women who aren't." The only fans Betancourt has left, besides the myriad of Hollywood actors and international heads of state, are the 3 boyfriends she had while in captivity.

What we have here is a book written by a woman whose personal trauma and highly cultivated public persona are battling it out on the page. The public persona wins, of course.

Read this beautiful book. Enjoy it. Savor it.

Just try not to forget who you're really dealing with.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

After everything that's been said about Ingrid Betancourt, I was curious to read this. It is a long book (it certainly could have been shorter by 100 pages or so) but I found it compelling, the kind of book I think about even when I’m not reading it. There’s so much I could say about this book and my reaction to it, so this will be a long and rambling review. If you can’t be bothered with my review, my bottom-line recommendation is read the book, and make up your own mind.

Betancourt evokes the claustrophobia of the jungle and her own emotional state so vividly that you feel you are there. What she went through was unspeakable, something no human being should inflict on another. Because of that I found some of the Amazon reviews more shocking than the book itself. “It was her own fault for going there against government advice,” say some, implying presumably that she should have been left to rot. Let’s be clear, the only people to blame for her kidnapping and six years of captivity are the FARC. And certainly no-one who was not there has the right to judge any of the hostages.

Some people also accuse her of arrogance and score-settling. It’s hard to sustain this last accusation, because when she criticises the behaviour of other hostages, she virtually never mentions names. She says nothing about Clara Rojas’ relationship with (presumably) one of the guerilleros who was the father of her child. The only case apart from her falling out with Clara where mutual animosity is very evident is with one of the American contractors, Keith Stansell, who is on record as describing her as “the most disgusting human being I've ever encountered”. Nice. He’s not exactly an angel himself, given that before being captured he was engaged to one woman while having an affair with another. When the second woman got pregnant he proposed to keep the resulting twins a secret and marry his blissfully ignorant fiancée anyway. The assertive, even bossy Betancourt was undoubtedly not his cup of tea, and reading between the lines it seems likely that the FARC encouraged these tensions between hostages on the principle of divide and rule.

Anyway, personalities aside, any first-hand account of an experience like this must be partial and subjective; how could it be otherwise? You can't point at any of these accounts and say they are "the truth": each person experienced it differently. They could not keep detailed notes; Betancourt did have notebooks occasionally, but burnt them regularly, and says herself she had difficulty recalling the sequence of events.

The emotion in this book rings true though. It’s clear in the early chapters that Betancourt had lived a privileged life, being treated as a special person in both her public and her private life, and used to getting her own way. She describes a secretary who worked for her for several years and still trembled in her presence. Being snatched from all this was a huge emotional shock. In the first years of her captivity, alone with Clara in a space a few metres square, their relationship quickly fell apart under the strain.

Later, in the larger group of hostages, some accused her of getting special treatment because of her status, and resented the fact that the French government was negotiating for her freedom (this must have been particularly galling for the Americans, whose government appears to have forgotten all about them). If Betancourt’s account is to be believed, this “special treatment” included being chained by the neck to a tree 24 hours a day, required to pitch her tent on top of a colony of venomous ants, denied food and medical treatment, and being forbidden to talk to the other hostages. Their guards deliberately fomented discord between hostages and were constantly moving them, separating them from those they had become friends with, and spreading rumours.

There were scenes here that were reminiscent of concentration camp memoirs: there are always some prisoners who will attempt to ingratiate themselves with the guards in order to gain favours, while others cling to their principles come hell or high water. In one famous scene, the guards decide to require the hostages to shout out numbers in order to facilitate counting them. Ingrid refuses, calling out her name instead. This angered other hostages, who feared reprisals, but I could understand her reaction: it wasn’t just egoism, but also a well-founded belief that reducing people to numbers makes it easier to mistreat them. And it worked: the guards reverted to names. On another occasion, the guards confiscated all the prisoners’ precious radios except Ingrid’s, because she had managed to hide it. I was appalled that another hostage threatened to shop her to the guards unless she handed it over to him. “I don’t submit to blackmail,” she responded, calling his bluff, since carrying out his threat would have meant no radios at all.

She is unsparing in describing her own reactions, and is certainly not above criticising her own behaviour as well as that of other hostages. Selected quotes (my translations):

In captivity, I discovered that my ego suffered if I was denied what I wanted ... I observed a transformation in myself that I did not like. And I liked it even less because of the fact that I objected to it in others.

My heart hardened as I listened to Guillermo, because I condemned in him what I did not like in myself. My eyes were opened to the importance of remaining humble wherever the wheel of fortune has placed you. I had to be taken to the bottom to understand this.

But finally, after years of struggle and endurance, when she has lost hope of rescue and expects to die in the jungle, she writes movingly that she is no longer afraid of the FARC commandant, because she has accepted death:

In this condition of the most devastating humiliation, I still possessed the most precious of liberties, that no-one could take away from me: that of deciding who I wanted to be.

I found the last few chapters, of her resignation to her fate and the joy of release, the most moving (without wishing to add a spoiler, there’s a surprising little love story here too). After all the controversy, especially over her badly misjudged decision to claim compensation from the Colombian government (her legal right, but politically extremely unwise), I had more respect for her when I’d finished this book than I did before. But I also now feel I must read the book by the three American contractors!

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an example of its type, the hostage memoir, this book will go down as one of the best. It is a towering achievement to have conceived and written a book like this after one's release, for as fellow captive Clara Rojas wrote in her memoir Captive: 2,147 Days of Terror in the Colombian Jungle, "going back isn't easy", even in one's mind, to remember and relive the period of captivity. However, the level of detail about one's daily life in the Amazon jungle is patently fascinating, even to those of us who have no intention of spending any time there. For an explorer, scientist, or government operative, this is required reading.

Think me a fool, but that a public figure (Ingrid Betancourt, long-shot presidential candidate) could write a book of such power and clarity and filled with personal observations and motivations, reminded me of the only other memoir of similar power in recent memory written by another long-shot presidential candidate, Barak Obama's Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Equally riveting, though entirely of a different character, Even Silence has an End tells us much about the nature of the individual who could observe dispassionately (and sometimes passionately) in the face of complications difficult to imagine: terror, sickness, pain, and boredom.

As I read I became aware of the sometimes poisonous relationships that developed among the hostages and between the hostages and their FARC captors. An earlier memoir I'd tried to read, Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle, became immediately relevant, as each book references the authors of the other. As a result, I subsequently read Rojas' Captive: 2,147 Days of Terror in the Colombian Jungle, which reminded me of the mind-numbing boredom of my earlier attempt with Out of Captivity . The fight in Colombia between government forces and FARC rebels has always felt out of my realm, and those two books did not make our worlds intersect in any significant way. Betancourt's book, however, brought that whole world right up close and personal, and I am there: involved, interested, engaged.

Clearly Betancourt arouses strong emotions, both support and opposition, even as she did as a captive. But until the opposition can speak with such a clearly rational and obviously humane and--this is critical--a truly interesting voice, Betancourt's version of events is the one I will choose to remember.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Even Silence has an End' by Ingrid Betancourt is an extremely honest and vivid survivor account by the author in having been a prisoner from 2002 to 2008 of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). It is amazing she, or any of the other captives with her, lived. The conditions of her life as a hostage of a cruel dystopic military force in Colombian jungles is as horrific as one can imagine.

Betancourt is a brilliant observer and witness. Her book seems honest, warts and all, from her viewpoint. She described a lot of interactions between herself and the other prisoners and the guerrillas. Sometimes interactions cost her in a loss of food or friendship, or it gained her a tarp or tent. She was chained to a tree in pouring rain for attempted escapes as well as because of her attitude or someone's malign rage against her because of perceived personality quirks. She was forced to live in isolation among the other hostages for years. I think she was often scapegoated because it did seem to me she sometimes reacted in a manner of being personally affronted too much by the indignities of her treatment, taking in her travails like the proud high-born privileged person she was, unaccustomed to suffering harms from people. Her pride and standing up for herself sometimes meant the entire group of hostages was punished. However, she also was incredibly brave and helped others when she could, or when she was not too emotionally drained by fear, depression, starvation, sickness and horror. Despite the verbal sniping of other ex-hostages against her since her rescue, she was without a doubt sick, underweight and physically weak. I don't see a person in photographs of her at the time of rescue as someone who gained a lot of extra privileges helping her physically survive. The sniping reminded me of how characters in Lord of the Flies responded to other characters, especially to Piggy.

However, while the prisoners and the guerrillas acted out their petty power games amongst each other or involved themselves in surreptitious manipulated or real friendships, all of them had a common enemy - the jungle. It seemed to me it was the strength or weakness of their bodies in living in the jungle which determined survival in this guerrilla war, not primarily who hated whom, or what vengeance they could wreak on each other. Thankfully, most of the hostages and FARC members did not want to really kill anyone in the camps, generally, even if punishments for what normally would be petty offenses became the malign gameplay among them all. But it was the 'who hated whom' soap opera and revenge that apparently consumed their waking existence. This is so weird to me. Is this what happens between prisoners and guards, or so-called military members, all being locked in a closed room of sorts (whether cell, cage, or camp in a jungle)?

I never imagined that these suffering and scared adults would have had the energy or desire to indulge in an environment of social interactions which, as described by Betancourt, were like those of any kindergarten or middle school. It really really struck me that many of the conversations in the book were what I observed between many playground or sport team cliques between middle-schoolers. Was it the deprivation and suffering, and did people devolve into their childish selves unknowingly?


But speaking to the REAL threats of death, imho....

First: the jungle. Most of us do not truly know what being in a jungle for years is like. I have now read two autobiographical memoirs at this point of people who unwillingly ended up trapped in a South American jungle for many months. Besides 'Even Silence has an End', I read Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival in the Amazon.

From what I have read, the jungle is a primitive place full of deadly plants, animals and insects. Everything in a jungle wants to eat you or taste you to see if they can eat you, or is afraid you might eat them so they do preemptive strikes against you. Some things want to eat you very fast, but most flora and fauna take their time eating you by burrowing slowly into your flesh, traveling and reproducing inside your body. People can watch their body and feel the inside of their body get eaten slowly by things. And then there are the accidents of falling, tripping, sliding, etc. Breaking bones and punching/tearing holes in your skin in the middle of a bug-infested jungle makes it easier for eager mindless teeny things to burrow into your convenient injuries. And then there is the environment: hot and humid. Every single thing people manufacture rots (and gets eaten) in a jungle. Everything. Without the resources to replace whatever you bring into a jungle from civilization, everything rots away much more quickly than in temperate zones.

Second: the FARC. I have been reading about this guerilla organization for decades. They began with noble motives in a noble cause, but they long ago devolved into an insane and deadly real-life Mad Max parody. It reminds me of what I read of what benefits Lenin hoped Communism would give to poor people when Communism was only a theory in his mind, and how the practice of Communism actually devolved into the terrorism of Stalin. The only difference between Stalin's Soviet Union and the FARC is organization. FARC had just enough organization to continue and not enough organization to track down and murder everyone they wanted to kill like Stalin did. Plus, the FARC were deluded into thinking that because the jungle could hide them from government forces the jungle was their friend. No. Not. Fortunately, for them, FARC did/does have a supply chain into the civilized world of weapons, food and camping gear to a degree.

I think hostage taking might have also have sustained them more, somewhat, if they had had Stalin's organization and focused will. As it is, from what I have read, they are idiots in collecting any money or political gains from their various plots of extortion. If they don't inadvertently kill their hostages, their game plan to hang on to them for decades until they win something, anything, from the government or families of victims seems very very lame to me. It is a horror for the victims and their families of course, but as a strategy for gaining political power it seems like a monumental failure to me. Some of the FARC leaders did accept some sinecure jobs in the Colombian government after a 'peace' treaty, but they did not get real power in the end. Last I heard, some of them have gone back to terrorizing and raiding villagers like any small-time crooks, while others are trying to live down their pasts.

Additionally, for a group supposedly committed to a single ideology, the leaders have proven over and over to be only small-time narcissistic warlords of chaos. Villages welcome them initially only to hate them and hope for their deaths. Polished stable commanders are in short supply among the FARC. Do the FARC leaders know what happened to governments who emulated Stalinistic policies to date without having actually a Stalinistic disciplined organization? Someone really needs to point out how the FARC are more Mad Max than anything else. Me.

From Wikipedia:

The operations of the FARC–EP were funded by kidnap and ransom, illegal mining, extortion and taxation of various forms of economic activity, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs. The United Nations has estimated that 12% of all civilians deaths in the Colombian conflict were committed by FARC and National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, with 80% committed by right-wing paramilitaries, and the remaining 8% committed by Colombian security forces.

The strength of the FARC–EP forces were high; in 2007, the FARC said they were an armed force of 18,000 men and women; in 2010, the Colombian military calculated that FARC forces consisted of about 13,800 members, 50 percent of whom were armed guerrilla combatants; and, in 2011, the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said that FARC–EP forces comprised fewer than 10,000 members. By 2013 it was reported that 26,648 FARC and ELN members had decided to demobilize since 2002.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolut...


Going back to the memoir, the author is unquestionably a remarkable person. She seems very sure of herself, strong-willed, brave and intelligent. I am glad she survived the horrors of the brutalities of the FARC and of the jungle.

From Wikipedia:

Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiŋɡɾið βetaŋˈkuɾ]; born 25 December 1961 is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist, especially opposing political corruption.

Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 23 February 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a Green candidate, and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008. The rescue operation, dubbed Operation Jaque, rescued Betancourt along with 14 other hostages (three United States citizens, and 11 Colombian policemen and soldiers). She had decided to campaign in the former "zone of dissention", after the military operation "Tanatos" was launched, and after the zone was declared free of guerrillas by the government. Her kidnapping received worldwide coverage, particularly in France, where she also held citizenship due to her prior marriage to a French diplomat.

Betancourt has received multiple international awards in 2008 at her liberation, such as the Légion d'honneur or the Concord Prince of Asturias Award. After her release, she was portrayed by some of her fellow captives as "controlling and manipulative"; others described her as "caring" and "courageous". One of them (Luis Eladio Perez) claims Betancourt saved his life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Íngrid_...

I don’t like the Ingrid in the book (subjectively, she comes on as a baroque personality, a drama queen, because of her style of expression), but that is not the point or important. The book describes a horrific captivity I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Whatever the choices the hostages made or whatever the issues that came up between the captives, all the prisoners were victims who barely survived the brutality of the guerrillas or the jungle. None of them deserved their captivity or the cruelty they experienced. All of them were severely stressed prisoners, suffering from bad food, cruel treatment, and unjust ferocity from their guards for years. YEARS.

Yet the jungle, in all of its meanings, was the real boss of them. At least I think this. Wasn't the ultimate ‘win’ for them all, guerrillas and prisoners, was the getting out of the 'jungle'? Morally, socially, literally, and figuratively? Most of them lost this particular war of escape, I think. Maybe most of us would have.

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

You spend a little over six years in captivity in the Colombian jungle together — tortured, sick, and hopeless — and you’d think that, once you’re free, all you’d really care about is the fact that the nightmare has finally come to an end.

But, in a day and age where surviving an especially shitty chapter in your life almost requires that you write a memoir to forever document this painful period in your life, it’s really no surprise to find a book like Ingrid Betancourt’s “Even Silence Has An End” — but what’s surprising is that one of her fellow captives, an American who was part of a drug surveillance operation, publicly bashed Betancourt in his own memoir and claimed she was “worse than the guards.”

You know, I remember the footage of the former Colombian presidential candidate, Betancourt being released in 2008 after years of being held hostage in the jungle, where she’d been chained by the neck to trees, suffered from untreated infections, long periods of starvation and endured torturous stretches of forced marches.

The recipient of multiple international awards, Betancourt was one of the more famous political prisoners and was taken hostage in 2002, while she was running for president.

When she was finally rescued 2008 along with 14 other hostages — among them were three Americans.

Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes were American Northrop Grumman contractors who ran into plane engine trouble during a drug surveillance mission. After their plane crashed, they were taken hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (aka FARC).

Stansell, an American intelligence analyst and ex-Marine, has been the most critical of the three, claiming that Betancourt was “the most disgusting human being I’ve ever encountered.”

He claimed Betancourt was haughty, self-absorbed, stole their food, hoarded books, and risked their lives by informing the guards that they were CIA.

So, having read about all of this prior to picking up Betancourt’s memoir, I couldn’t help but look at her account of things with a grain of salt.

But you know what?

You read her book and you can’t help but understand both sides of the stories; I mean, I think our high school English teachers forced us to read “Lord of the Flies” for a reason — it helps you to understand that, in some situations, when you’re stuck with a bunch of other people under circumstances that aren’t in your control, this ugly side of you starts to emerge the longer you’re in that situation.

In her memoir, Betancourt recounts a number of attempts to run away. She even stood up to the guerrillas on a number of occasions, displaying what I thought were remarkable shows of courage in an attempt to stick by her principles; but it seems that some of her fellow captives saw her as nothing more than a troublemaker who made things more difficult for them in the short term.

Reading this book, there were moments where I felt like I was being held captive right along with Betancourt — and I don’t mean that in a good way. The writing was okay — if a little grandiose at times — and I didn’t find it difficult to slough through…but still, reading it, I could only begin to imagine what it was like to actually go through what she did.

At one point, she writes, “The flatness of life, the boredom, time that was forever starting over again just the same — it all acted like a sedative.”

Man, did I ever get what she was talking about.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read on the recommendation of my friend’s mom. An extensive memoir on Betancourt’s time in captivity with the FARC. At times it felt a bit sanitized (she seemed to have more issues with fellow hostages than her captors), but I also can’t imagine enduring what she did.

[Micaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

While this is a very interesting story, and one that everyone should know about, the writing is so long-winded that I could hardly finish the thing.

It is unfortunate that the story is so convoluted that I could barely keep a time line in my head. You would think it would be as simple as "I got caputred and then this stuff happened to me and then I was rescued" with maybe some flashbacks tossed in. No. She jumps from one year to another and back again unneccessarily.

It seemed, especially after I read the book authored by the three American men she was rescued with, that this was a very self-indulgent story, and one that she wrote to improve her public self-image.

[Dimitris Ligoxigakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Την Ιστορία της Ϊνγκριντ Μπετανκούρ την πρώτο-άκουσα το 2008 από τα μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης. Πρόκειται για μία Κολομβιανή πολιτικό και ακτιβίστρια η οποία απήχθη και αιχμαλωτίστηκε για περίπου 6,5 χρόνια από Κολομβιανούς εξτρεμιστές στη ζούγκλα του Αμαζονίου. Το βιβλίο της «Even silence has an end» δεν είναι μόνο η εξιστόρηση της 6χρονης ομηρίας της, αλλά πάνω απ’ όλα είναι ένας ύμνος στη δύναμη της ανθρώπινης ψυχής. Η Ingrid Betancourt έχει έμφυτο το σπάνιο ταλέντο να βρίσκει τις κατάλληλες λέξεις για να αποτυπώσει τα συναισθήματά της και το προνόμιο να εμβαθύνει σ’ αυτά. Εκτός από την εξιστόρηση των γεγονότων, που λαμβάνουν χώρα μέσα σε ένα εξωπραγματικό τοπίο μέσα στην ζούγκλα του Αμαζονίου, η Μπετανκούρ εμβαθύνει στις σχέσεις της με τους άλλους ομήρους καθώς και τους δυνάστες τους, την καθημερινότητα τους, περιγράφει τις προσπάθειες απόδρασής της, αλλά κυρίως αναλύει τις μεταπτώσεις στη διάθεσή της και την επίδραση όσων βίωνε στην ψυχολογία της.
Πώς είναι να είσαι όμηρος σε μία ζούγκλα για 6 χρόνια και ν’ ακούς σε εβδομαδιαία βάση μηνύματα από το ραδιόφωνο από τη μητέρα σου η τα παιδιά σου; Πώς νιώθεις όταν μαθαίνεις μέσω ραδιοφώνου ότι μετά από 5 χρόνια σε εγκατέλειψε ακόμα και ο σύντροφος σου; Γίνεται ν’ ανθίσει ό έρωτας όταν στερείσαι ακόμα και το δικαίωμα της τροφής ή της καθαριότητας; Είναι έρωτας αυτό ή μήπως ανάγκη να κρατηθείς από κάπου;
To Βιβλίο διαθέτει σε υπεραφθονία όλα εκείνα τα συστατικά που κάνουν ένα κείμενο θαυμάσιο και είναι πραγματικά ν’ απορεί κάνεις που ένα τέτοιο βιβλίο, που χαίρει βαθιάς εκτίμησης και αναγνώρισης από το κοινό στο εξωτερικό σε δεκάδες χώρες, δεν είναι μεταφρασμένο στα Ελληνικά. Μια πρώτη γεύση από το βιβλίο αλλά και την ποιότητα αυτού του ανθρώπου μπορείτε να βρείτε στο Youtube και στην πρόσφατη συνέντευξη της Betancourt στο TED το 2017 .
Το προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα γιατί πρόκειται για ένα κείμενο βαθιά ανθρώπινο , με έντονα συναισθήματα αλλά κυρίως άκρως διδακτικό.
My companions wanted to speak, to confide in us, the terrible things they had experienced kept them silent. I could easily understand. As you share memories, an evolution occurs. Some facts are too painful to be told; in revealing them you relive them. And then you hope that as time goes by, the pain will disappear and you'll share with others what you've experienced and unburden yourself of the weight of your silence. But often, even if you no longer suffer when you revisit the memory, you keep quiet out of a feeling of self-respect - a reluctance to expose your humiliation. Over time, you sense you must not distress others with the memory of your own misfortune. If you share certain things, they will stay alive in other people's minds. So the most gracious and appropriate thing to do would be to let them die inside you.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.....


I enjoyed all of this book.....
but its possible some people could think it might have benefited from more editing.

Heck, if Ingrid had to spend 6 years captive ---the least I could do is read 'every' detail of her book.


I admire Ingrid's heart-soul-mind-spirit


I wish she and her family all good things.

[Nelson Zagalo]

"Even Silence Has an End" tinha tudo para ser um testemunho inesquecível: uma mulher prisioneira na selva durante seis anos, enfrentando o medo, a fome e a anulação do eu. O primeiro capítulo promete. Mas rapidamente a narrativa se afunda num texto descritivo. Betancourt oferece um relato minucioso, repetitivo, explicando cada gesto, cada detalhe. A experiência perde-se, ficando apenas o relato.

A voz de Betancourt é sincera, a dor é real, mas falta-lhe ritmo e silêncio, falta-lhe narrativa. O livro precisava de uma edição severa, que cortasse o excesso e desse forma ao mero relatar.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an example of its type, the hostage memoir, this book will go down as one of the best. It is a towering achievement to have conceived and written a book like this after one's release, for as fellow captive Clara Rojas wrote in her memoir Captive, "going back isn't easy", even in one's mind, to remember and relive the period of captivity. However, the level of detail about one's daily life in the Amazon jungle is patently fascinating, even to those of us who have no intention of spending any time there. For an explorer, scientist, or government operative, this is required reading.

Think me a fool, but that a public figure (Ingrid Betancourt, long-shot presidential candidate) could write a book of such power and clarity and filled with personal observations and motivations, reminded me of the only other memoir of similar power in recent memory written by another long-shot presidential candidate, Barak Obama Dreams from my Father. Equally riveting, though entirely of a different character, Even Silence has an End tells us much about the nature of the individual who could observe dispassionately (and sometimes passionately) in the face of complications difficult to imagine: terror, sickness, pain, and boredom.

As I read I became aware of the sometimes poisonous relationships that developed among the hostages and between the hostages and their FARC captors. An earlier memoir I'd tried to read, Out of Captivity became immediately relevant, as each book references the authors of the other. As a result, I subsequently read Rojas' Captive , which reminded me of the mind-numbing boredom of my earlier attempt with Out of Captivity . The fight in Colombia between government forces and FARC rebels has always felt out of my realm, and those two books did not make make our worlds intersect in any significant way. Betancourt's book, however, brought that whole world right up close and personal, and I am there: involved, interested, engaged. Clearly Betancourt arouses strong emotions, both support and opposition, even as she did as a captive. But until the opposition can speak with such a clearly rational and obviously humane and--this is critical--a truly interesting voice, Betancourt's version of events is the one I will choose to remember.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very difficult book to read. The details of the author's years in captivity were so horrifying, sometimes I had to pretend I was reading fiction because the notion that it was a memoir was tough to accept. I thought about putting the book down many times and not finishing it, but I plowed through to the end becauase I figured I would learn valuable lessons from the reading experience. These are the insights I gained:

1)I was already against drugs before, but now that I've realized some of the specifics of how cocaine money is used in Columbia, I cannot condone any encounter with the drug.

2)The book was a difficult experience for me to read, yes, but that's nothing compared to the horrors that the author had to endure. I believe it's our responsibility as happy free people to shoulder a small part of others' burdens by reading their stories. I also believe it's our duty to practice gratitude on a daily basis for all the good we have in our lives, because there are so many people in the world struggling with problems we can barely fathom.

All that being said, I gave the book three stars, rather than four or five, because it was confusing to read. The story was not told in chronological order, and I often got the characters mixed up. Perhaps the author did this deliberately, because her memory of the events during her hostage period were all mixed up and out of order? Regardless of the reason, I got confused about some of the major plot points and characters, and I really don't want to read the book again just to get clarification.

[Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy, can Ms. Betancourt write. I read this immediately after finishing Clara Rojas's account and several years after reading the version shared by the 3 Americans in captivity with them. No more than one chapter in, I thought, THIS is what I wanted. Not the self-consciously inspirational anecdote of the Americans or the vague, disorganized, and poorly written version Rojas provides. Betancourt is a natural storyteller with an eye for detail, a fondness for introspection, and a feel for her audience.

On the other hand, the book is quite long, and does fall into some of the same traps seen in Rojas's non-linear storytelling. It occasionally is not clear when a given event occurs -- whether it is a sort of flashback or a repeat event. Betancourt's skills with self-analysis may lead her to a bit of unfair attribution of motives to her fellow captives. And, of course, it is limited by the fact that it is one person's memoir. Although she is freely willing to admit that she regrets much of her own behavior as she and the others slowly went crazy, many of her recollections are obviously limited perspectives.

My favorite of these half-stories is a passing reference to the fact that it had "immediately become understood" that Betancourt must win at all card games, and how it upset the group when new captives failed to let her win games. I'd love to know more about how it had "become understood," and how the others felt about that. You can tell there's a story there and it probably doesn't make Betancourt sound good. The question is whether her avoidance of the story is conscious.

That said, this is a fantastic read, and if you only read one of the three it should be this one. Betancourt paints a detailed, colorful picture that left me feeling like I'd gone through it all with her, and wondering if I would have handled it half as well. Reading between the lines of all 3 books, I suspect Betancourt can be "difficult to love" at times, but she owns it, and I think many reactions to her have more to do with her discomfort and struggle being a strong, empowered woman in a very macho culture. Her book shows what a strong, empowered woman can survive, and makes the other issues seem unimportant.

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good read. Reading it, one can gain insight into what long term confinment and living for years with the threat of danger, punishment or death hanging over your head can do to you. You don't have to be a POW to develop PTSD and other acute anxiety and trauma related problems. This is also a story of courage. Many people have momentary courage that burns out as fast as it comes. So few understand that there really are places and times in peoples lives that just getting out of bed is difficult and the right thing is the hardest thing to do. Give in, or cave in to fear or find the strength to hold onto your identity--who you want to be. Courage is not the absense of fear, it's moving foreward with the presense of fear. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

[Tarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is really well written, and this is a powerful story, but I came away sort of not liking Betancourt nonetheless. It becomes subtly clear that she feels a sense of entitlement, but when her co-captors begin to react with real anger, she is completely baffled by their responses.

Who knows how any one of us would act in a similar situation - I don't want to judge her. But I ended the book feeling that she was being dishonest - at least with herself, if not intentionally with the reader.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's the story?:

From Goodreads: "Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and moving account of that time. Chained day and night for much of her captivity, she never stopped dreaming of escape and, in fact, succeeded in getting away several times, always to be recaptured. In her most successful effort she and a fellow captive survived a week away, but were caught when her companion became desperately ill; she learned later that they had been mere miles from freedom.

The facts of her story are astounding, but it is Betancourt's indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance, and profundity to the narrative. Attending as intimately to the landscape of her mind as she does to the events of her capture and captivity, Even Silence Has an End is a meditation on the very stuff of life-fear and freedom, hope and what inspires it. Betancourt tracks her metamorphosis, sharing how in the routines she established for herself-listening to her mother and two children broadcast to her over the radio, daily prayer-she was able to do the unthinkable: to move through the pain of the moment and find a place of serenity."

My two cents:

I can't imagine that I would do well if I were captured. I would be absolutely terrified and I could see myself losing hope quickly. You have to give Betancourt credit; she never really seems to lose hope even after all of her escape attempts. She becomes a sort-of cheerleader for the other prisoners that she is with. Their captors go back and forth between being kind and being harsh and the prisoners never really knew what to expect. Because Betancourt represented the government establishment being a presidential candidate, she is often singled out in her treatment yet she perseveres.

As a book lover, I really liked the part where the prisoners have the opportunity to share a box of books. They only have two weeks to read the books before they have to give them back. The prisoners dive into the books and the books really provide an escape from the fear, terror and even boredom that came from being in captivity.

My only criticism of the book is that sometimes the book moved a little slowly but all in all, this book is definitely an amazing account of hope and resilience.

My rating:

3 out of 5 stars

[Josephine Merkle]

This is the Amazon review of this book. I heard an interview with the author on NPR on 9/24/10 and can't wait to read the book.

Ingrid Betancourt tells the story of her captivity in the Colombian jungle, sharing powerful teachings of resilience, resistance, and faith.

Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and moving account of that time. Chained day and night for much of her captivity, she never stopped dreaming of escape and, in fact, succeeded in getting away several times, always to be recaptured. In her most successful effort she and a fellow captive survived a week away, but were caught when her companion became desperately ill; she learned later that they had been mere miles from freedom.

The facts of her story are astounding, but it is Betancourt's indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance, and profundity to the narrative. Attending as intimately to the landscape of her mind as she does to the events of her capture and captivity, Even Silence Has an End is a meditation on the very stuff of life-fear and freedom, hope and what inspires it. Betancourt tracks her metamorphosis, sharing how in the routines she established for herself-listening to her mother and two children broadcast to her over the radio, daily prayer-she was able to do the unthinkable: to move through the pain of the moment and find a place of serenity.

Freed in 2008 by the Colombian army, today Betancourt is determined to draw attention to the plight of hostages and victims of terrorism throughout the world and it is that passion that motivates Even Silence Has an End. The lessons she offers here-in courage, resilience, and humanity-are gifts to treasure.
About the Author
Born December 25, 1961, in Bogotá, Colombia, Ingrid Betancourt was a politician and presidential candidate celebrated for her determination to combat widespread corruption. In 2002 she was taken hostage by the FARC, a brutal terrorist guerrilla organization. For more than six and a half years, the FARC held her hostage in the Colombian jungle. She was rescued on July 2, 2008.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an engrossing and thought provoking read and am very glad I read it. For the first 100 pages or so it seemed quite dense to me and the 400 odd pages still ahead of me seemed rather daunting. But then the story just became more and more engrossing.

I studied Latin America as a region in university but we barely touched on Colombia. Most of the classes I took dealt with either Central America and Mexico, or the Southern Cone countries. Colombia is a bit of a mystery to me and I would love to travel there one day. The geography of the jungle as described in this book is mesmerizing. The jungle seems truly incredible (and frightening and beautiful and overwhelming) so that was one aspect of the book I especially liked. But I more found the political aspects of the book intriguing and of particular interest to me given my past fascination and study with/of Latin American dictatorships. The structure of the FARC, as glimpsed through Betancourt's eyes, was fascinating, particularly the relationships between men and women and between the leadership and the subordinates. The sexual politics were disturbing, at least what was presented. I would now love to read more books about the FARC.

Overall, I found Betancourt to be a brave and intriguing person. I was also intrigued by the dynamics between all of the hostages. From an outsider looking in, it seems so sad the way there were so many divisions and so much mistrust amongst the hostages. That said, it's so hard to imagine how any of us would react in similar situations and the constant tension and stress of the situation on an emotional level coupled with the physical stress and discomfort surely caused people to act in ways they aren't proud of. I wish Betancourt would write another memoir about her life since she was freed and also reflecting more on her time in the jungle now that she has had more years to reflect on it. I highly recommend this book.

[Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this memoir, I have a lot of respect for Ingrid Betancourt. It provided insight into what led to her capture by the FARC, and also her character. I know that three fellow American hostages wrote their own book (Out of Captivity) which painted a negative portrait of Ingrid, but I'm unsure as to who to believe. Yes, I don't doubt that Ingrid at times acted arrogant (she admitted so herself). On the other hand, I'm SURE that these same Americans acted in a brutish manner also. Ingrid's biggest non-supporter, Keith Stansell, actually called Ingrid a "disgusting human being" in a 20/20 interview. However, after reading Ingrid's narration, I concluded that KEITH was the most malicious and conniving hostage. What's more, it seems that Keith was one of the quickest to fall into bribery and obsequious behavior with the guerrillas. Ingrid was labeled as "disgusting" because she attempted to escape (thus collective punishment for the hostages) and refused to be treated like property. Keith was willing to do whatever his captors told him. What's worse - being "arrogant" by refusing to die as an animal, or willingly being subjugated? Do not go gentle into that good night, no?

I don't know the full story of what happened during the captivity of Ingrid and the other hostages. For all I know she could have been the most narcissistic and evil person there. However, Ingrid makes it clear that the "he said, she said" was not the point of this memoir. Instead, Even Silence Has an End is about the spiritual and personal transformation that one FARC hostage underwent in six and half years. After reading her account, it really makes one reevaluate their own life and what they take for granted.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had such an effect on me that when I awoke through the night,I found that I had Ingrid on my mind, thinking about her struggles to survive her ordeal in the Colombian jungle as though she was still there and not actually free. Ingrid Betancourt,born in Colombia in 1961, raised in France and England, was campaigning for the Colombian presidency in February,2002, when she was abducted by the FARC. They are a brutal terrorist guerrilla organization and they held her hostage along with many others for six and a half years until she and several others were rescued in a set-up military operation on July 2, 2008. Much of that time she was chained by the neck to a tree and deprived of all freedom. As she decribes what she had to put up with, you can't help but wonder how you would have coped under the conditions she so intimately desribes. That loss of freedom was not the only ordeal to deal with. There were tensions that arose among the other hostages from living in such close, confined contact and basically being forced to 'compete' with them for basic needs. Under these conditions, as Ingrid found out, you had a choice to decide what king of human being you wanted to be. And that was the only freedom no one could take away. Everyone should read this book!

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really did enjoy reading this book, and it has compelled me to want to learn more. That being said, I really feel that Betancourt was overly wordy, and I was confused a few times about her timeline. It didn't always make sense. She went into such detail that I find it all a bit hard to believe for 100%... For as sick as she was at times, she sure did seem to remember a lot, down to (less than) the month. Of course, I can't judge her too much on this as I have (quite thankfully) never been through anything like this, and all I need to do is think about the various WWII memoirs/texts that I've read, and the details do seem believable.

I am looking forward to reading
Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle, a book written by three American men who spend several years in captivity with Betancourt. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to say regarding their experience, and it will be interesting to see Betancourt through their eyes.

[Ara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book of over 500 pages in a 2 day sitting. From the moment I opened this book, I was absolutely riveted. Betancourt is a beautiful writer, with a beautiful spirit and strong mind. This was by far the best book I've read in a LONG time, and I found myself crying tears of joy, sadness and triumph along with her every step of the way. I don't even know what else to say that would do this book justice, but I know I will be recommending it for years to come. My only complaint about this book is that Penguin chose to write a prologue that gives away the ending (her means of obtaining freedom) before you even begin reading the book, which really disappointed me and took away from very pivotal parts of the read. However, nothing could take away the emotion and hope I felt while reading this, and the appreciation and respect I have for Betancourt, who allowed us full entry into her heart and thoughts, during the most painful time of her life. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone looking for a phenomenal read. It is a beautiful account of one woman's resilience and strength of spirit, against all odds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6HDcd...

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly engaging, beautifully written account of what presidential candidate Betancourt underwent as a hostage for six years in the Amazonian jungle, often chained by the neck by the guerrilla terrorist organization, the FARC. Betancourt takes us into her mind as she undergoes indignity and deprivation, attempts several escapes (unsuccessfully) and yet somehow manages to keep her heart and head in tact, and increasingly, her newborn faith. Her carefully, even elegantly, written memoir is fairly long: the better to help you know what those six years, day after day, must have been like: the relationships among fellow captives--the intensity of connection, the cruelty of rejection--the isolation and pettiness; the constant changing of the guards, FARC leaders, the endless moving of camp to evade detection. A testament to life, love, to what it means to be human.

[Sunshine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never been more hesitant to review a book as I am Even Silence Has and End. While Ms. Betancourt's trial is one of ghastly details, I found myself confused as to her actions at times with regard to her captors. It is obvious Ms. Betancourt must have been born and raised in rather affluent life style for her to be so unnerved by some of things she encountered in the Amazon jungle. So, I will reserve judgment on this particular piece. I believe I am lacking a cultural/socio-economic/political piece in a puzzle too complex for me to accurately place my feelings regarding this book.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is amazing how the depths of people's cruelty to one another has no bottom. In Even Silence Has An End, Ingrid Betancourt talks about her experience being held captive by the FARC in the jungles of Columbia from 2002 to 2008. I felt as though I was plodding through the jungle with her. The book moved very slowly but it was worth the struggle. How she managed to retain her sanity is the crux of the story. It's a must read for everyone.

[Liz Pacheco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving the book 3 starts because i learned a lot about Colombia, and i didn't know much about that, so i found that very interesting. And i thought the writting was ok,and it told you what she experianced during that horrible time in her life. However, i didn't really get a feel for who she was, and how she managed to survive that situation.

[Rasha Anwar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This no doubt is one of the best books i have ever laid my hands on...so good and inspiring i'd read it again and again.

[Julia Santos C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha parecido una historia increíble, me ha gustado mucho. Un poco largo y a veces repetitivo (al final cuenta cómo fueron 6 años de cautiverio en la jungla, normal que sea monótono), pero vamos, muy interesante

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story Description:

Penguin Press(HC) | September 21, 2010 | Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-59420-265-0

Ingrid Betancourt tells the story of her captivity in the Colombian jungle, sharing powerful teachings of resilience, resistance, and faith. Born in Bogota, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential election, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and half years in the depth of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. Even Silence Has an End is her deeply personal and moving account of that time. Chained day and night for much of her captivity, she never stopped dreaming of escape and in fact, succeeded in getting away several times, always to be recaptured in her most successful effort she and a fellow captive survived a week away, but were caught when her companion became desperately ill; she learned later they had been mere miles from freedom.

The facts of her story are astounding but it is Betancourt’s indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance, and profundity to the narrative. Attending as intimately to the landscape of her mind as she does to the events of her capture and captivity, Even Silence Has an End is a meditation on the very stuff of life-fear and freedom, hope and what inspires it. Betancourt tracks her metamorphosis, sharing how in the routines she established for herself-listening to her mother and two children broadcast to her over the radio, daily prayer-she was able to do the unthinkable: to move through the pain of the moment and find a place of serenity.

Freed in 2008 by the Colombian army, today Betancourt is determined to draw attention to the plight of hostages and victims of terrorism throughout the world and it is that passion that motivates Even Silence Has an End. The lessons she offers here-in courage, resilience, and humanity-are gifts to treasure.

My Review:

What a powerful and heart-wrenching story this was! Ingrid Betancourt is a true survivor who lived through the worst nightmare anyone could imagine. After being abducted by a terrorist group called FARC, Ingrid suffered immeasurable abuse, the harshest of conditions, disease, insect bites, and illness deep in the Colombian jungle. For six and half years she was a puppet, manipulated and mistreated, often starving for food and drink, being forced to use bathroom conditions that were sub-human, sleeping quarters that often left her laying soaking in the rain with a chain around neck and attached at the other end to a tree to prevent escape. Miraculously, she did manage to escape on several different occasions only to be caught and dragged back to the camp and re-chained. Her last escape netted her an entire week of freedom with a fellow prisoner but she also received the harshest treatment after that final escape attempt.

I was completely mesmerized by the story and the faith, stamina, and resilience Ingrid showed in the face of such dire adversity. An immensely strong and brave woman, Ingrid often fought her jailers and spoke up for kind treatment of her fellow prisoners, often earning herself even crueller treatment.

This is one book that I think everyone should read. You can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to live under the conditions Ingrid did for as long as she did. Just the mental exhaustion and anxiety alone would have been enough to do me in. I certainly hope and pray that Ingrid has healed well and has had a smooth transition back into her family and with her children after enduring what she did for six and a half years.

Even Silence has an End is a hugely powerful story!

[Ambar Armas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impactante. El contraste del horror que vivió con la naturaleza que describe, la profundidad de las reflexiones, la agudeza para transportarte al lugar y a las vivencias, todo. No lo podía dejar, me encantó.